CVE-2014-3896 in acmailer
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in CGI programs in Seeds acmailer before 3.8.17 and 3.9.x before 3.9.10 Beta allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users for requests that modify or delete data, as demonstrated by modifying data affecting authorization.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/11/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-3896 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw affecting the Seeds acmailer software suite. This vulnerability exists within the CGI programs that form part of the acmailer framework, specifically impacting versions prior to 3.8.17 and 3.9.x versions before 3.9.10 Beta. The flaw allows remote attackers to exploit the lack of proper authentication verification mechanisms, enabling them to hijack user sessions and execute unauthorized operations. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it permits attackers to perform actions that modify or delete data, effectively compromising the integrity and availability of the affected system. The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery conditions where web applications fail to validate that requests originate from legitimate users rather than malicious actors.
The operational impact of this CSRF vulnerability extends beyond simple data modification capabilities to encompass full authorization manipulation within the affected systems. Attackers can leverage this flaw to perform actions that would normally require valid user credentials, essentially allowing them to impersonate authorized users without possessing their actual authentication tokens. This creates a significant risk for organizations relying on acmailer for email management and communication services, as unauthorized modifications to user permissions, email configurations, or message routing could lead to data breaches, service disruption, or unauthorized access to sensitive information. The vulnerability's exploitation demonstrates how insufficient input validation and lack of anti-CSRF tokens can create persistent security weaknesses that remain viable even after initial system deployment.
The exploitation of this vulnerability requires minimal technical expertise and can be accomplished through various attack vectors including malicious email attachments, compromised websites, or social engineering campaigns that trick users into visiting malicious pages. The attack surface is particularly broad given that acmailer is commonly used in web-based environments where users interact with CGI scripts for email processing and management. Organizations implementing the affected versions face significant risk of unauthorized data manipulation and potential system compromise. The vulnerability's presence in multiple version streams including both stable and beta releases indicates poor security testing practices during the software development lifecycle, potentially leaving organizations exposed for extended periods without awareness of the risk.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2014-3896 require immediate patching of affected systems to the recommended versions 3.8.17 and 3.9.10 Beta, which contain the necessary CSRF protection mechanisms. Organizations should implement comprehensive input validation and authentication verification procedures, ensuring that all state-changing operations require proper CSRF token validation. Network administrators should also consider implementing additional security controls such as web application firewalls that can detect and block suspicious request patterns. The vulnerability's classification under ATT&CK technique T1566.001 emphasizes the importance of defending against credential harvesting and session hijacking attacks. Security teams should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments to identify any other applications using similar CGI-based architectures that might be susceptible to analogous CSRF flaws. Regular security audits and penetration testing should be implemented to proactively identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities across the entire application portfolio, ensuring compliance with industry standards such as those outlined in the OWASP Top Ten and NIST cybersecurity frameworks.